3. Discounts are dwindling

Image: Disney

We were shocked earlier this year when Disney offered deep discounts for the holiday seaosn, offering deals on dining, room stays, theme park tickets, and more. However, though some deals remain, as of this writing, free dining is all but sold out, the majority of Florida Resident and Annual Passholder discounts are unavailable on most dates this holiday season, and discounts on packages are also unavailable on most dates. 

While Disney would normally be ramping up their discounts in advance of what might be an attendance shortfall, it looks like discounting has stalled for the most part in recent weeks, which may seem to indicate that Disney is projecting guest levels will be higher this holiday season. 

4. We've already seen a pre-holiday attendance bump

Image: Disney

Though the timing of school holidays and of course Halloween may play a factor, the last two weeks at Walt Disney World have been uncommonly busy, with fan-favorite attractions like Peter Pan's Flight, Avatar: Flight of Passage, and even the new Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run attracting multi-hour waits for the first time in months. 

Of course, there's no way to predict with absolute certainty what crowd levels will be this holiday season at Walt Disney World, these early indicators seem to point towards what could be a very busy period for the resort. So if you are planning on visiting Walt Disney World in November or December, you're going to want to make sure to lock down those FastPass+ reservations as early as possible, and make sure you have all your dining reservations set (but not by phone!)